The scale is completed by asking the child to read and follow the instructions on the printed form. The child is asked to rate on a 4-point scale: 'never', 'sometimes', 'often', or 'always' to indicate how often each of the items happens to them. There is no set time period over which the judgement has to be made. The response is made by circling the appropriate frequency word.

Alternatively, the Total Score may be computed from adding together all the subscale scores.

Subscale Calculation

The sub-scale scores are computed by adding the individual item scores on the set of items as follows:

Subscale

SCAS ITEMS

Separation anxiety

+5

+8

+12

+15

+16

+44

Social phobia

+6

+7

+9

+10

+29

+35

Obsessive compulsive

+14

+19

+27

+40

+41

+42

Panic/agoraphobia

+13

+21

+28

+30

+32

+34

+36

+37

+39

Physical injury fears

+2

+18

+23

+25

+33

Generalized anxiety

+1

+3

+4

+20

+22

+24

The positive filler items that are not scored in either the total score or the subscale scores include item numbers 11, 17, 26, 31, 38, and 43.

Scoring Templates

Because the font sizes and layout tends to change when printed out from different computers a fixed scoring template is not provided. These may be developed by the practitioner using a plain acetate sheet to overlay on top of the printed survey to assist in scoring.

Alternatively scores 0 to 3 may be entered into a spread sheet for computing purposes.